When Something Wicked Wore a Friendly Face

“There's a thin line, sane and insanity,” Joy George said. I felt like I was teetering on that line. Something is happening to me, to my body, that is otherworldly. Everything is leaving me, my mind is leaving me. She was using me as a sacrifice.”

For Joy George, growing up in a house with four older brothers meant not always getting the personal comfort or attention she needed from her parents. To help cope, she made a close friend in Jesus Christ.

“I can remember the children's minister asking us, ‘Who wants Jesus to be your friend?’ “I remember going up to the altar call at 7 years old and her leading me in a salvation prayer,” Joy said. “I felt after that day that He was my friend. Feeling alone sometimes I would just lean into Jesus. I just always felt Him. I always felt that warmness.”

Joy’s zeal for Christ and sharing the gospel grew as she got older. However, the mission of winning hearts soon became more important than her personal relationship with Jesus.

“I'm trying to be somebody,” Joy said. “I'm trying to feel needed. I’m trying to feel like I’m not a failure. ‘I have to prove to You, God, that I'm worthy to be loved,’ because that’s how I felt when I was growing up.”

Then her home was torn apart.

“I was about 22 years old when my parents were in the process of divorce,” Joy said. It shook my foundation. I felt like I didn't have a place to belong. I ended up going to Alabama to try to pursue ministry.”

She was given a tour of the bible college by a woman who then offered for Joy to stay with her and her husband while she got on her feet.

“My parents were not happy,” Joy said. “They were like, ‘We don't even know this lady.’ But for me, I'm like, ‘She works at the school. She interviewed me.’ At that point I felt like they lost all of their credibility because they're going through a divorce. I just heard you're trying to stop me from building my own life and doing what God has called me to do.”

Joy moved into their home in spite of her parent's misgivings. At first it seemed like providence, but then strange things began happening.

“An uneasiness started to set in. I was just having dreams – demonic dreams,” Joy said. “I was always being pursued or chased by like zombies or demonic spirits. I just thought, ‘Well, this is demonic opposition because I'm in the right place.’ I remember her having a conversation with me, telling me that her husband's mother is a witch. So, I just thought, ‘Okay, well, the mother must have an issue with the wife, so that has nothing to do with me.’”

Then one evening, Joy returned to an empty house. A plate of food was in the kitchen with her name on it. 

“When I was getting ready to eat that food, I heard the Holy Spirit say, ‘Don't eat that.’ I was like, ‘Why can’t I eat the food?’ So, I just ignored it – I ate that food. It was literally immediate, I could barely see. I’m blinking my eyes thinking, ‘What is going on?’ I lay down in bed shivering, and then I feel something grab my abdomen and I just feel cold winds going through my body. So, at this point now I know there was something in that food. I got to get out of here. Now I know without a shadow of a doubt it was her the whole time. She was the witch. It wasn't the mother, it was her.”

After Joy rushed home, her mother began praying for God to deliver her. But the battle for her soul had only begun.

I remember looking in the mirror, ‘These are not my eyes,’ Joy said. “I'm hearing little whispers and voices. I'm hearing like scratches on the wall. I remember feeling like there were snakes on the ground. ‘This cannot be happening. I'm a Christian, how can this be happening to me?’”

Joy’s mother took her to a deliverance ministry. There, it was revealed through prayer that the witch was using Joy as a sacrifice to move up rank in her coven. Through the ministry’s intercession over the course of six months, the curse was finally lifted – still, her faith was shattered.

“I felt like God abandoned me, Joy said.” “How could you let this happen? I was angry at God. It was a downward spiral after that.”

For several years, Joy fell into rebellion: drinking, pursuing unhealthy relationships, running from God. She finally came to a place where she couldn’t feel Him at all anymore.

“It felt like my heart was turning cold,” Joy said. “It scared me. I did not feel the presence of God. Now, I remembered how I used to feel the presence of God at 7 years old when I asked Jesus to be my friend. And that's when I knew I needed to make a change, and I needed to run back home to Him because I can't live feeling like I don't have hope. It was never God’s fault, He tried to warn me. He didn't want this to happen to me. So, when I took accountability is when the healing started to take place.

Today, Joy’s peace has been restored.

“I learned how to just go back to when I was really young and just open up the Bible scriptures, not trying to, you know, come up with a whole entire sermon or anything,” Joy said. “Just, I’m this little girl in need of her Father, and He has proven to me that He can be trusted, that He's here and that He has never left me even when I felt He did. God has a rescue plan in place for you. He will rescue you from yourself. He will rescue you from hurt, pain, things that you've endured, and He'll make it beautiful.”